ALFRED – Irving Faunce held his dying grandson in his arms, stared into the boy’s unseeing eyes and made two promises.

“My wife and I would do whatever we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Faunce said Friday. “I also promised that we would work on his behalf to make sure that those who should be accountable (for) what had happened to him are held accountable.”

Additional Photos

Gordon Collins-Faunce looks to his attorney, Amy Fairfield, while being led into a courtroom Friday at York County Superior Court in Alfred, where he was charged with depraved indifference murder in the death of his infant son, Ethan Henderson. Photos by Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Irving Faunce adopted Collins-Faunce when he was 8 years old.

Gordon Collins-Faunce is led into York County Superior Court in Alfred on Friday. Collins-Faunce was charged with depraved indifference murder in the death of his infant son and is being held at the York County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Faunce told reporters outside the York County Courthouse about his final moments with Ethan Henderson. Inside, Faunce’s adopted son, Gordon Collins-Faunce of Arundel, had just been formally charged with murdering Ethan, his infant son.

According to court papers, Collins-Faunce told police that he was frustrated by Ethan’s crying and, after returning from smoking a cigarette outside his mobile home on Limerick Road, grabbed Ethan by the head, squeezed it and threw him into a chair.

At 10 weeks old, Ethan would have weighed about 10 pounds and the bones of his skull were not fully formed.

Collins-Faunce, 23, made a brief appearance in the courtroom Friday. Wearing a blue button-down shirt and tan khaki pants, he stood silently as Justice John O’Neil read the charge to him.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese asked that a psychological evaluation be done by the State Forensic Service. While the prosecution and the defense agree that Collins-Faunce is competent to stand trial, the evaluation will assess the extent, if any, of psychological problems that might diminish his criminal responsibility.

Prosecutors seek to get such evaluations as soon after an incident as possible. Marchese said Collins-Faunce has indicated he has post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in the military, although family members say he did not serve in combat or ship out overseas and was absent without leave for part of his enlistment.

Prosecutors plan to present their case against Collins-Faunce to a York County grand jury when it meets next month, to secure an indictment. His attorney, Amy Fairfield, did not argue that police lacked probable cause to arrest her client.

Collins-Faunce continues to be held in the York County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Irving Faunce, a health care consultant who is a former mayor of Gardiner, adopted Collins-Faunce when he was 8 and had spent several years in foster care. Authorities say Collins-Faunce was abused in foster care.

Faunce made no excuses for his adopted son Friday, but said he attended the hearing to stand with his son and make sure he has a vigorous defense.

Faunce also described his final hours with Ethan, and how he participated in the infant’s baptism in the special care unit of the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland.

“Ethan was severely injured. It was clear what was going to happen. It was clear how irreversible the injury was,” Faunce said. “Ethan was so injured that he was blind.”

Faunce said he wants to make sure that the people and organizations that might have been in a position to prevent the tragedy are held to account. If Ethan received medical care for a broken arm six weeks earlier — as Collins-Faunce described to him — somebody should have reported it, Faunce said.

If the state Department of Health and Human Services had reports of possible abuse in the house — which court papers indicate — it should have acted, he said.

The court papers do not say when the DHHS was notified about suspected injuries or neglect of Ethan and other children in the house. The department has declined comment on the timing, citing the criminal investigation.

Faunce said that after Ethan was taken off a ventilator, he breathed on his own. “I looked in his eyes and told him that he didn’t deserve any of this,” Faunce said.

“It was a gift to me to be able to share those hours with Ethan, and I want to share that with everybody — and share the incredible pain of all of this and to hold, during this horrible process, this horrendous crime, to hold the face of Ethan in front of me,” Faunce said.

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